An interesting thing happens with 1:10 to go in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA finals. The score is Lakers 76, Celtics 73. Kobe Bryant has the ball with Ray Allen defending him. He dribbles to his right, sees the second defender coming to his left, elevates and passes the ball to Ron Artest who steps into a rhythm three-point shot, makes it and extends the Lakers’ lead to six.
The Staples center crowd erupts. The Celtics, those on the floor and on the bench, can’t believe what they just witnessed. Bryant with the unlikeliest of assists enables Artest to have what is likely to be the best moment of his basketball life.
This made possible in part by Tex Winter’s influence on Bryant.
We all know Winter as having pioneered the use of the triangle offense in the NBA. He’s Phil Jackson’s longtime mentor, was his assistant coach through each of the Chicago Bulls’ three-peat championship runs and the Lakers first three-peat in 2000-02. Before suffering a stroke in April of 2009, he’d been a consultant for the Lakers.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Winter will finally enter the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame after several years of making an appearance on the ballot. The announcement will come moments before the NCAA Men’s Basketball championship game Monday night in Houston. The induction is followed by Winter’s induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in February of 2010 and the recognition given to him by the NBA Coaches Association awarding him the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in June 2010. Both perhaps paving the way to Winter’s induction this summer.
It’s a recognition that according to Bryant and Jackson is long overdue.
“It’s about time. It’s about time. It’s very well deserved,” Bryant said. “I’m beyond happy for him. It’s exciting, a little past due, but better late than never.”
Having been a head coach for only two seasons, and not a particularly successful one at that, coupled with his career as only being an assistant coach in the NBA prevented Winter from being inducted sooner. Jackson alluded to the fact that the selection committee should’ve inducted Winter a long time ago when his health wasn’t so much an issue and he was able to accept the award when he was “still serving basketball at such a great capacity.”
At the time of its re-implementation into the NBA, the triangle had previously been used by Winter in Houston during the 1972-74 seasons, it was vastly different than the prevalent NBA offensive style at the time, which reinforced a self-centered approach to the game. The triangle, if ran correctly, should empower everyone and put the individual needs second to those of the group. Its basic principles teach selflessness.
Next: How the triangle has affected Bryant in his role as ‘The Closer’
It’s not an easy offense to grasp. The idea is to orchestrate the flow of movement in order to lure the defense off balance and create opportunities to open players. It’s virtually unstoppable against defenses, simply because it keeps them guessing. There are no set plays. Should the defense prevent a move, the offensive players adjust and start another series of cuts and passes that can possibly even lead to a better shot.
Perhaps it’s difficult to imagine a world where Bryant and the word selfless are synonymous with each other. Bryant’s competitive drive and instinctive scoring mentality sometimes prevent him from utilizing the triangle for the full 48-minute basketball game. The six basic offensive principles described by Winter in the triangle offense don’t really include running consecutive plays for Bryant in the isolation.
Then again there’s almost always an exception to the rule, and usually Bryant fits that category.
Lakers scribe Roland Lazenby describes in his blog Lakernoise how Bryant, like Michael Jordan, is the type of player for which a seventh principle was added by Winter to the triangle offense. He describes both as having the capabilities of putting up outstanding offensive numbers that you have to have a rule that trumps the other six. Still the idea is to take over games when necessary, yet have the sense to know when to also get your teammates involved.
No one has done that better than Bryant, or at least more consistently than Bryant has over the last two championship runs and the Lakers current campaign towards title No. 17.
The dichotomy between Kobe the prolific scorer and Kobe the facilitator isn’t an anomaly, it’s essentially by design. Bryant is always referring to reading the defense and making key passes to get others involved in the offense when he’s being chased down by multiple defenders. At those times he goes into facilitator mode. Then there are those times when he’s poised to take the last-second shot or go on scoring binges. The two morphed into one are what makes Bryant the ultimate closer, the guy you want making the decisions down the stretch.
The decision to pass or shoot isn’t the easiest and it’s not one that Bryant has always opted to use in perfect balance, but like all things it’s a progression. Where would Bryant be if it were not for Winter’s influence and Jackson’s benevolent insistence on utilizing a system that’s proven to work keep his own selfish tendencies at bay for the greater good of the team?
Jordan used to refer to the triangle as an “equal opportunity offense,” and although he wasn’t completely sold on the idea of experimenting with the triangle, Jackson eventually coaxed him into accepting it and championships ensued in bunches of three. Jordan was another player, who like Bryant found that the best way to win was too involve his teammates.
Bryant won his first and what could be perhaps his only MVP award by finally proving himself to be a both a facilitator and leader. The Lakers subsequently went on to win two consecutive championships and possibly a third come June. It’s no doubt due in part to the contributions made by Winter in Bryant’s development as a player while he was sitting along with the other assistant coaches on the Lakers bench. Although he’s no longer with the team, we witness Winter’s influence on Bryant when he makes plays such as the aforementioned that cemented the Lakers championship win over the Celtics. Perhaps the best is yet to come.
In that regard, Winter is still serving the game of basketball in a great capacity.
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